1.Iraqi Resistance Report for the events of Monday, 15 December 2003
through Wednesday, 17 December 2003.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial
board, the Free Arab Voice.
Monday, 15 December 2003.
An Iraqi Resistance martyrdom bomber driving a four-wheel drive taxi
killed eight Iraqi puppet policemen in an attack Monday on a station
in the capital's northern outskirts, their commander said.
Puppet police Lieutenant Colonel 'Ali 'Amer said 10 puppet officers
were injured in the blast in the northern Husainiyah district.
Residents said at least five civilians, including a five-year-old
girl, were also wounded by flying glass and debris.
'Amer said the explosion in Husainiyah occurred when a yellow Toyota
Land Cruiser drove through the razor fence encircling the building,
and detonated next to the gate. Several houses and shops were damaged
and at least three cars were burned.
The blast left a one-meter (3-foot) deep crater about 10 meters
(yards) from the entrance to the building whose facade was demolished
by the blast. The force of the blast heaved the car into the air and
into the police station's courtyard.
Lieutenant 'Ali Isma'il, wounded by a piece of shrapnel in his
forehead, said he was having breakfast at a shop across the
street "when a car driving at high speed exploded in front of the
station."
Salem 'Id 'Ali, who lives across the street from the station and
whose house was damaged by the blast, was wounded by flying glass and
debris along with his wife and two children. "We were in a state of
shock. We were having breakfast and each of us was thrown a few
meters away by the power of the blast. We had to carry my family from
above the back wall of the house in order to take them to hospital,"
said 'Ali, whose family was still receiving treatment at the
hospital. Karimah Nassi, said her 10-year-old daughter was slightly
wounded in the neck by flying glass.
Earlier on Monday, the Iraqi Resistance wounded seven puppet police
officers when another car bomb exploded in the western 'Ameriyah
neighborhood just after 8 a.m.
Iraqi puppet police and US occupation Military Police fired on a
second explosives-packed vehicle taking part in that attack and
prevented it from ramming the police station and detonating, said US
occupation Army Brigadier General Mark Hertling, of the 1st Armored
Division. The Iraqi Resistance driver in the second vehicle managed
to escape, however, unable to detonate the vehicle after it came
under aggressor gunfire, according to Hertling. The man was later
captured, however, according to US occupation Army Captain. Brad
Loudon. The car's 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of plastic explosives,
with a powerful limpet mine attached as a detonator, was defused,
Hertling said.
Hertling said US occupation troops found yet another explosives-
packed vehicle parked in east Baghdad on Sunday that appeared to have
been abandoned, possibly because of mechanical trouble. "Right now,
we don't know what the target was," Hertling said. "It goes with the
intelligence we had yesterday, that there would be several (car
bombs)."
Hertling attempted to minimize the number and effect of other Iraqi
Resistance ambushes on the occupation forces and their stooges by
dismissing such incidents with the remark, "We dodged a couple of
bullets in Baghdad."
Later in the day, several large explosions reverberated in central
Baghdad. The cause was not immediately clear.
In Baghdad a pro-Saddam Hussein demonstration degenerated into
fighting and attacks on two puppet police stations in the Sunni
Muslim quarter of A'zamiyah in the northern sector of the capital
Monday afternoon.
"About 100 patriotic Iraqi demonstrators attacked two [puppet] police
stations in the district with automatic weapons and RPGs from along
the roofs and in the street," puppet police Lieutenant Haydar Zuhayr
said. The attack came after puppet police fired into the air to
disperse the patriots approaching one station, said 'Ali 'Abd al-
Jabbar, a witness. The patriots scattered into adjacent streets but
then began to aim at the puppet police station. Neither puppet
police nor a local hospital reported any casualties.
The exchange of fire lasted several hours and when night fell, a foot
patrol of American occupation troops entered A'zamiyah. The
neighbourhood had been tense since the announcement Sunday afternoon
that US aggressor troops had taken Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
prisoner. Some 200 people protested in A'zamiyah on Sunday evening
with portraits of the President. "Saddam is the glory of our
country," they chanted.
In the city of al-Fallujah, 60 kilometres west of Baghdad, pro-Saddam
Hussein demonstrators sacked the regional puppet "government"
offices, forcing puppet police guards to flee, journalists at the
scene reported.
The demonstrators stormed into the building, broke up the furniture,
computers and air conditioning and then destroyed documents. They
set all the wreckage alight in a huge bonfire outside, the
correspondents said. Two large pictures of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein and Iraqi flags were hung from the top of the building.
US occupation troops were not seen around the quisling "government"
offices when the demonstration took place but were deployed in force
there Monday night. American aggressor troops took control of the
sacked building and stationed themselves around the local Iraqi
puppet police station, which had been deserted in the afternoon when
the mercenaries fled before the patriotic populace.
Military occupation aircraft dropped flares and US aggressor troops
used loudhailers to call on residents to give up their arms. They
threatened to "shoot anyone seen with a gun in his hand." Al-
Fallujah, which remains loyal to the Iraqi government lead by
President Saddam Hussein, broke out in joyous displays earlier Monday
after rumours spread that the man US forces captured Saturday night
was not the former Iraqi leader.
Iraqi puppet police sources said on Tuesday acknowledged that
occupation forces shot dead two Iraqi demonstrators on Monday in al-
Fallujah, but the US military failed to confirm the killings.
Some 50 kilometres further west in ar-Ramadi, protesters took to the
streets and stormed the puppet governor's building and put up Saddam
Hussein posters.
The US army announced that it had killed two Iraqis during
demonstrations in support of President Saddam Hussein in the city of
ar-Ramadi Monday evening.
In Tikrit, 300 students demonstrated in support of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein.
"With our blood, with our soul, we defend you Saddam Hussein," they
chanted.
Some wept and several displayed Iraqi currency bearing the Iraqi
President's photo -- still in circulation. Iraqi puppet police and
American occupation troops dispersed the protesters, some of whom
were beaten and arrested, an AFP reporter said.
In ar-Ramadi west of Baghdad, US aggressor soldiers killed three
protesters and wounded two more on Monday, after up to 750 people
rallied in a show of support for Saddam Hussein, an occupation
military statement said. The statement said that US aggressor troops
were fired upon repeatedly and that one American occupation soldier
was wounded. Pro-Saddam Hussein demonstrations have been held in
several Iraqi towns since the Iraqi President was captured on
Saturday.
**********************************************************************
**
Special Report: From the scene of the capture of Iraqi President, an
exclusive report from the patriotic Iraqi website www.albasrah.net.
Iraqi residents of the area of ad-Duwar where Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein was captured by aggressor troops late Saturday evening report
that a ferocious battle raged in their farming area between Iraqi
Resistance Fighters led by President Saddam Hussein and American
aggressor troops backed by aircraft who resorted to all sorts of
weapons, including those under international ban.
Lawyer Isma'il 'Abd ar-Rahman said that the courageous Iraqi
Resistance led by Saddam Hussein lost more than 150 men martyrs in
the heroic engagement. He said that the US aggressor forces lost
more than 250 men, however, in killed and injured during the combat,
and dozens of American vehicles were destroyed.
He added that American Apache helicopters and airplanes were
constantly in the skies of the area throughout the entire duration of
the battle that raged for more than 30 hours during which the US
occupation forces were unable to break the will and defiance of the
heroic Resistance fighters.
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim ad-Duri for his part said that the American
forces, frustrated by the Resistance fighters' stubbornness, began to
fire shells that contained types of narcotic gas, taking advantage of
their technological superiority. At that point the aggressor forces
had no information, Dr. ad-Duri said, indicating that the Iraqi
President was in the area. They simply wanted to silence the guns of
the Resistance fighters that had inflicted heavy losses on the
Americans.
He said that the gas spread quickly in the air and affected the
ability of the Resistance fighters to do battle, causing them to lose
consciousness. This allowed the American aggressor forces to arrest
them while they were unconscious. Among them was the Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein. He said that this is what all fair-minded people who
witnessed the farcical lie that the American forces showed on
television at noon on Sunday, 14 December could attest to.
Dr. ad-Duri added that the nature of the combat that took place in
that farming area full of date palms puts the lie to the naïve
American account. It shows that President Saddam Hussein led the
battle, demonstrating outstanding courage in defying the occupation
forces. These are the praiseworthy characteristics that Iraqis know
to be his.
A leading member of the Arab Socialist Baath Party said that the
Iraqi President is a Baathist leader before he is an office holder,
and therefore his arrest or assassination was always something that
was possible, and the President and his comrade fighters knew this.
The disappearance of President Saddam Hussein from the spectacle of
the political arena in Iraq today will not affect the cohesion of the
Party nor the leadership by the Party of the heroic Iraqi
Resistance. The Baath Party, he said, is a revolutionary,
insurrectionist party.
The leading Baath Party member stressed that the Resistance would not
retreat. The agenda of the Resistance will escalate in retribution
for the loss of freedom and dignity of the President who represents
the freedom and dignity of the people and the Arab Nation.
He noted that the Iraqi Resistance retains its military,
organizational, and informational apparatus, it knows all its members
are ready for martyrdom at any time and place, and he pledged that
qualitative Resistance operations aimed at the occupation forces and
their collaborators would continue because it is the Resistance that
represents the Iraqi soul.
Meanwhile Iraqi farmer 'Abbud Mustafa who owns a chicken farm in the
area said that several thousand of his chickens, which are his source
of livelihood, had suddenly died with no prior warning. He said that
veterinarian doctors told him that they had died as a result of the
gas, which the American forces had released in the area during their
attempt to capture President Saddam Hussein.
Al-Hajjah Siham Jabbar spoke about the same thing, affirming that two
of the sheep her family owns on their rural farmstead had died
because of the effects of the gas released by the American forces in
the region.
Commenting on the way that the Americans released the story about the
arrest of President Saddam Hussein, Dr. Mani' Mahdi, professor of
psychology at the University of Tikrit said that the American
Administration wants to humiliate not only President Saddam Hussein
but also the masses of the people and the Arab Nation who pinned
their hopes on the personality of President Saddam, regarding him as
an Arab Nationalist hero and a valiant knight of the Arab Nation.
The American Administration, Dr. Mahdi said, wants to deprive us of
our political and historical symbols and personalities so that we
might pay homage to defeated leaders who live under in the shade of
the Americans. President Saddam Hussein is the one who said "No!" to
the American Administration. It was he who struck the very depths of
the Zionist entity. It was he who built an industrial base and
brought together an army of scientists in Iraq. It was he who made
Iraq's national resources secure from the encroachments of the
enemies of the Arab nation. Because of all that the Americans
brought together all the intelligence people and psychologists in the
Administration to put together a show of humiliation of this historic
personality who represents the present and future of the Arab nation.
***********************************************************
Special Document:
Statement by the Iraqi Branch of the Arab Socialist Baath Party.
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-giving.
The Arab Socialist Baath Party.
"One Arab Nation, With an Everlasting Mission."
"Unity, Freedom, Socialism."
Statement on the imprisonment of our comrade the General Secretary by
the occupation forces in Iraq.
Sons and daughters of the Iraqi people and the Arab Nation!
Baathist Comrades!
In the course of the on-going confrontation between the heroic Iraqi
Resistance led by the Arab Socialist Baath Party and the occupation
forces and their stooges in Iraq, and at a time of intensified
operations by the occupation forces as they desperately attempt to
strike at and stop the escalating armed Resistance, American
occupation forces with the help of mercenary traitors managed to
carry out a combined operation that targeted a number of alternative
points – both real potential locations and decoy locations – in
various parts of Salah ad-Din Province while our comrade General
Secretary was on the move. The operation made use of biologically
effective interventions in order to take our comrade, the General
Secretary and Chief Secretary of the Iraqi Branch of the Party, the
militant Saddam Hussein, prisoner. That event took place before
midnight on Saturday, 13 December 2003.
The heroic armed Resistance, guided by its political and strategic
programs, will never stop. No, it will continue, escalating its
designated line in accordance with tactical demands and the strategic
aim of "expelling the occupation forces, liberating Iraq, and
preserving it as one unified homeland for all Iraqis." That which
has been laid out by the Command of the Political Resistance and that
which has been learned by fighting detachments will continue to be
implemented with lofty zeal, fighting spirit, clear vision, and firm
resolve, embodying the principled and militant characteristics and
virtues of our comrade the General Secretary.
The Baath, the Resistance, and all noble minded Arabs and human
beings are certain that his firmly rooted faith, his strong fighting
spirit, his authentic Arab honor, his iron Iraqi unyileldingness, and
his unique personal potency will inform the great battle of defiance
that our comrade the General Secretary will wage inside the enemy
prison camp, a battle that will add a new and eternal epic chapter to
the life of Saddam Hussein, a man dear to the hearts of Iraqis,
Arabs, and all progressives in the world.
Long live free Iraq! Defeat the occupation!
Long live the heroic Iraqi Resistance!
Long live the Comrade General Secretary and Chief Secretary of the
Iraqi Branch of the Party, the militant Saddam Hussein!
Long live Palestine, beloved of comrade Saddam Hussein, Free and Arab!
God is Greatest! God is Greatest! And may the despicable be
despised!
Apparatus for Political Information and Publication,
Arab Socialist Baath Party.
15 December 2003.
Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Tuesday, 16
December 2003.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031215/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_explosion_13
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=1514&e=1&u=/afp/20031215/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_saddam_dem
os_031215195332
http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat_mukhtara/ba3th_15122003.htm
http://www.albasrah.net/maqalat_mukhtara/khasbaghdad_15122003.htm
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saddam&cid=540&ncid=716
Tuesday, 16 December 2003.
Al-Jazeera TV reported that the US occupation forces had admitted the
death of a US occupation soldier near Baghdad.
The Jordanian daily al-Arab al-Yawm noted that at 5pm on Tuesday BBC
Radio from London began its news roundup with word of a powerful
explosion inside the so-called Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad,
the occupied Republican Palace and surrounding grounds that the
American occupation forces use as their headquarters.
Yet this news item did not appear later in any news report nor on any
of the wire services. This is another example, al-Arab al-Yawm
concluded of the severe censorship that the occupation authorities
have imposed on the news media to conceal the facts about the losses
that the American forces are suffering and to truth about the Iraqi
people's rejection of the occupation.
Earlier, the AP reported that two US occupation soldiers were
seriously wounded in an explosion in Saddam Hussein's hometown of
Tikrit on Tuesday. A later report from the occupation forces
indicated that three American soldiers were injured in Tikrit when an
explosive device blew up as their vehicle passed by on one of the
streets of the city.
US occupation troops in Tikrit, 100 miles north of Baghdad said the
two men were seriously injured in the blast, and witnesses at the US
Army base there saw them being carried away on stretchers.
An occupation military spokesman said Tuesday that a US occupation
soldier died when he fell out of the vehicle he was riding north of
Baghdad. The spokesman did not provide further details on the
incident.
US aggressor forces claim to have shot dead 11 Iraqis who, the
Americans say, were preparing to ambush the occupation troops in the
city of Samarra', west of Baghdad. The US statement claimed that
American forces suffered no casualties in the incident. The American
statement said that local people took the bodies of the Iraqi martyrs
away.
Meanwhile the Iraqi capital Baghdad was transformed into a military
camp as the occupation army braced itself for an offensive from the
Iraqi Resistance. The millions of Iraqi civilian residents of their
country's capital were unable to walk about safely and normally or to
drive their cars around their city because of dozens of cement
barricades, barbed wire entanglements, security points, and patrols
by the occupation forces and collaborator militias.
Ahmad Sabri, Baghdad correspondent of the Amman daily al-Arab al-Yawm
reported that pedestrian and motor traffic in Baghdad, and movement
from one part of the city to another was blocked and obstructed as
never before in the entire 1200 years of the city's existence.
Yet the barricades and barbed wire only serve to increase the terror
of death for Iraqis, as anyone approaching the often camouflaged
checkpoints is in the cross-hairs of occupation soldiers' automatic
weapons. If a soldier so much as suspects that an approaching person
or vehicle might pose a threat he is liable to open fire without
warning, or with a warning in an alien language that most Iraqis
cannot understand.
The spectacle of the occupation military and their collaborating
stooges repeated itself again and again in district after district of
the sprawling Iraqi capital as the aggressor forces tried to prepare
themselves for a new offensive by the Iraqi popular Resistance as it
seeks to inflict some sort of retribution on the occupiers for
capturing and imprisoning the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Concerning the imprisoned Iraqi President, word leaked out from
sources close to the puppet so-called Interim Governing Council that
the "prime minister" of the Zionist Entity, Ariel Sharon, was the
first leader to view the captured Iraqi President even before word of
his imprisonment had been announced.
Naser Mahmud, an Iraqi politician who is close to the so-called
Interim Governing Council confirmed that American Proconsul of Iraq
L. Paul Bremer received the Zionist criminal at Saddam International
Airport in the occupied Iraqi capital last Sunday night after Sharon
had arrived on an "Israeli" airplane accompanied by a group of aides
and Mossad agents. After learning from Bremer that the Iraqi
President had been captured and was in the airport, Sharon asked to
see Saddam Hussein, "so that he might be the first to see Saddam as a
prisoner."
The Zionist criminal, butcher of Sabra and Shatila, reportedly spent
the night in Baghdad congratulating and celebrating with the American
occupation forces.
In the last 24 hours US occupation forces shot and killed 40 Iraqi
citizens as they repressed massive demonstrations in support of
imprisoned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Protests have swept the
occupied country as news spread about the American aggressor capture
of the Iraqi President.
Eyewitnesses in the Baghdad Sunni neighborhood of al-A'zamiyah said
that 22 demonstrators for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein died as
martyrs under the hail of American bullets.
In Tikrit, about 700 people rallied in the center of town
chanting "Saddam is in our hearts, Saddam is in our blood." Obtuse US
soldiers and Iraqi puppet policemen yelled back: "Saddam is in our
jail," clearly failing to grasp the protesters' meaning that the
whole Iraqi people would have to be arrested if the aggressors hope
to quell the Resistance.
A scuffle ensued when security forces arrested the leader of the
protest, showing once again what free speech means to them.
Demonstrators attacked puppet government buildings in the city and
set fire to their contents. Some 250 students gathered in front of
Tikrit School Tuesday Morning.
Iraqi Puppet police in Kirkuk said that the American occupation
forces shot one Iraqi man dead and injured another in two separate
incidents near the oil city, 250km north of Baghdad. The American
4th Infantry Division refused to confirm the killings, saying only
that it was investigating them.
In Mosul puppet security sources said that one puppet policeman was
killed and another injured seriously when gunfire broke out at a
demonstration of about a thousand students in support of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein. Puppet police lieutenant 'Abd Allah 'Abd
Allah said that four members of a so-called unit for the protection
of installations which was formed by the occupation forces and
collaborates with them were injured when demonstrators pelted them
with stones. The demonstrators destroyed two cars. Clashes occurred
after a student demonstration of an estimated 10,000 students was
broken up. It had gathered to express support for Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein and to denounce the American occupation.
In al-Fallujah, another hotspot of Resistance west of Baghdad, crowds
roamed the streets shouting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans such as "We
defend Saddam with our souls." After the Iraqi puppet police fled
from the streets, the crowd overran the mayor's office, an occupation
military statement said.
Tension and anger pervaded the city of al-Fallujah at noon, however,
when for about an hour US occupation troops descended on the city,
blocking the roads and raiding and searching homes in the town.
During the American aggressor raids, Iraqi Resistance Forces mounted
two attacks on the occupation forces, although a correspondent for
the Agence France Presse (AFP) said that the US troops suffered no
casualties.
The roar of American aggressor aircraft flying at medium altitude
never let up during the US raid on the town prompting a 22-year-old
resident who gave his name as Salim to say in bitter anger "they
think that their airplanes scare us. It's true they've taken Saddam
prisoner, but we will go on defying them not for his sake but to
protect the honor of Islam."
US occupation military vehicles appeared in large numbers Tuesday
around the puppet government offices in al-Fallujah, at the meeting
hall for the tribal shaykhs, and around the puppet police, which on
Monday had been the target of a attacks by Iraqi demonstrators
supporting President Saddam Hussein.
The biggest concentration of US occupation troops was around the
puppet police station. They deployed on the roof of the building to
observe while eight American military vehicles blocked the roads
leading to the puppet police station where dozens of US infantry
soldiers set about searching houses in the area. No arrests were
made.
On Monday occupation forces confronted demonstrators and told them
through loudspeakers that they must not believe rumors that Saddam
Hussein had not been captured. This prompted vegetable seller Nabil
Mahmud to ask "What are they doing in the city? Whether they've
captured Saddam or not captured him we'll go on attacking them since
they've invaded. We are Muslims and some things are sacred to us."
With a tone that sounded threatening, Salah Muhammad, who owns a shop
near the puppet police headquarters "they won't dare deploy this way
at night because then it's easy for us to target them without hurting
any of our people. They come out in the daytime so they can be
protected by the civilians."
After an hour, the American occupation troops pulled out of al-
Fallujah as the local people gathered by the dozen in front of shops
and at intersections to watch angrily and silently as the vehicles
drove past.
As soon as the American occupation troops had left Iraqi Resistance
forces fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a goods train. One
railway car was damaged. Young people helped themselves to boxes of
Pepsi Cola before the American occupation troops approached the scene
of the crippled train, one kilometer from al-Fallujah station. A
locomotive was then brought which hauled the train back to al-
Fallujah station under heavy American guard.
Iraqi Resistance fighters at noon also fired an RPG at an American
helicopter that was hovering at low altitude in the area of the al-
Fallujah train station. The aircraft was not hit, according to
eyewitnesses Samir Mushrif and 'Adnan Jasem. In response to the RPG
attack, an American armored vehicle that was parked near the station
fired its heavy machineguns on the house opposite causing one house
to burst into flames and damaging the façade of another, according to
the AFP.
This incident followed an Iraqi Resistance attack in which an RPG was
fired at an American occupation patrol in al-Fallujah, inflicting no
casualties.
In Baaqubah, about 200 protesters supporting Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein attacked a headquarters of the Iranian-backed Shiite Militia
the Badr Division of the so-called Supreme Council of the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) which the United States has recently
announced will aid the occupation forces in suppressing the Sunni
population. The demonstrators who carried guns and knives smashing
the windows and knocking down one of its walls. No American or
collaborator forces were in the area at the time of the demonstration.
Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Wednesday,
17 December 2003.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saddam&cid=540&ncid=716
Wednesday, 17 December 2003.
The Baghdad correspondent for the Jordanian newspaper al-Arab al-
Yawm, Ahmad Sabri, writes in the issue for Thursday, 18 December that
he learned from a security source close to the occupation authorities
Wednesday evening that the man who denounced and betrayed Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein to the Americans, facilitating his capture,
was his relative, Colonel Muhammad Ibrahim 'Umar al-Musallit who had
been the Iraqi President's personal companion and aide throughout the
entire period of his life underground since the American invasion as
he moved from one hiding place to another.
The sources said that Colonel al-Musallit would frequently visit
Saddam Hussein's secret hiding places and was the link between the
Iraqi President and his other relatives in recent days.
The sources told al-Arab al-Yawm that al-Musallit disclosed his
intention of betraying the President to some of his family members
and then made contact with the Americans through a relative whom he
thoroughly trusted. The Colonel and the occupation forces agreed on
a plan that guaranteed that the Iraqi President would be taken alive
and unable to resist or flee from the trap that was prepared for him.
The plan was for al-Musallit to drug the Iraqi President shortly
before the arrival of the American forces thereby providing all the
military and practical guarantees of the success of the plan.
In actuality Colonel al-Musallit succeeded in carrying out the plan.
He was able to drug Saddam Hussein in his hiding place and hand him
over to the Americans in a state where he was out of control of his
faculties.
The sources think it likely that the operation to capture the Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein was actually carried out some time ago and
that the American occupation forces' account of the capture is not
precisely accurate.
Meanwhile there have been reports, al-Arab al-Yawm's correspondent
writes, coming from Tikrit saying that the individual who cooperated
with al-Musallit and contacted the Americans, telling them of the
Iraqi President's whereabouts, was a relative of Saddam Hussein's
named Khaled al-Hamd.
Information has recently leaked out that the al-Majid tribe, from
which the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein al-Majid's tribe is
descended, had killed Colonel al-Musallit and the one who helped him
to trap the President. Other sources said that it is likely that
Colonel al-Musallit and his helper were killed by members of the
tribe.
Three American occupation soldiers were wounded Wednesday evening in
two separate attacks by the Iraqi Resistance in Mosul, northern Iraq,
according to puppet police officials and eyewitnesses.
Puppet police Lieutenant Haytham Muhammad Jamal said that Resistance
fighters on motorcycles fired two rocket-propelled grenades on
American occupation troops who were searching a house under
construction in al-Hudaba' neighborhood northeast of Mosul, wounding
two of the Americans.
Jamal, who took part in a puppet police patrol that cordoned off the
area and searched for the Resistance fighters said that one of them
was wounded in the incident when the US aggressors opened fire on the
Resistance fighters who were nevertheless able to get away.
In another incident one American soldier was wounded Wednesday when
Resistance fighters launched a mortar barrage at the headquarters of
the American occupation forces located near Mosul University.
Mazen Khalil Jasem, a member of the puppet Division for the
Protection of Iraqi Installations who works in the American
headquarters, said that eight mortar shells struck inside the
headquarters wounding one American soldier and destroying a military
vehicle. Nabil Muhammad Sayrawan, a member of the Kurdish chauvinist
Peshmergah collaborationist militia who helps to guard the American
headquarters told the same story. Nevertheless, American sources had
no information about the two attacks.
Three Brigades of American occupation troops of the 4th Infantry
Division and Iraqi puppet forces started a new series of raids,
dubbed Operation Ivy Blizzard, on Wednesday in Samarra'. Backed by
armored vehicles and Apache helicopters, US occupation troops
conducted door-to-door raids and searches designed to stamp out Iraqi
Resistance in the restive town. At least a dozen people were detained.
Two brigades surrounded Samarra' while the third carried out raids
and house-to-house searches. The raids were accompanied by intense
gunfire directed at the civilian residents of the city. Sever damage
was inflicted on the citizens' property. Doors were blown off their
hinges as the occupation troops burst into homes in a way designed to
maximize terror and without the slightest regard for the rights of
the citizens to security and safety.
Reliable sources told al-Arab al-Yawm that the occupation forces'
raids were still continuing as late as Wednesday evening, but the
city has been cut off from communication with the outside world.
A Statement issued by the Arab Baath Socialist Party confirms that
the Iraqi President was taken prisoner after he was drugged and his
movement crippled and that the reported "trial" being prepared for
him is nothing but an illegal move.
An explosives-laden truck speeding toward a puppet police station
collided with a bus at an intersection before dawn Wednesday, killing
17 Iraqis amid a surge of violence since the weekend capture of
President Saddam Hussein. Twenty people also were injured in the
attack in al-Bayya', a poor district in southwest Baghdad, hospital
officials said. Ahmad Kazem Ibrahim, deputy puppet "interior
minister," said the dead were Iraqis, and that the truck driver had
planned to strike the puppet police station.
Al-Jazeera TV reports on the authority of sources in the Iranian-
backed Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI)
which is collaborating with the American occupation, that Muhannad al-
Hakim, the SCIRI chief for al-'Ameriyah neighborhood in Baghdad has
been assassinated by the Iraqi Resistance. The sources added that
Muhannad al-Hakim had received death threats from supporters of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.
SCIRI collaborationist sources also announced to al-Jazeera that 'Ali
az-Zalemi, an official in the Baath Party and former candidate of the
Baath Party to represent the city of an-Najaf, was murdered by
people, likely SCIRI supporters, who surrounded and killed him.
The Iraqi Resistance detonated two explosive devices as an American
occupation convoy was passing an area south of Kirkuk on Wednesday.
A number of the US aggressor troops were wounded according to Iraqi
puppet police. Puppet police staff Captain Hamad Latif, director of
the puppet police in the ar-Rashad area said that the bomb targeted a
US occupation patrol near al-Hamirah and caused severe damage to a
Humvee as well as wounding the personnel who were in it. Pools of
blood were clearly visible on the ground. Catpain Latif said that his
puppet police forces set up a road block near the scene of the
explosion and that a second blast occurred five meters from the site
of the first just a few seconds later.
The US occupation forces claimed that one Iraqi was killed and two
others wounded in an explosion that was aimed at a passing US patrol
in Baghdad on Wednesday. An American occupation spokesman said that
the hand-made bomb, although it was intended for the American patrol
killed and injured only Iraqis, leaving the American forces unscathed.
Demonstrations continued on Wednesday in support of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein whose capture by US aggressor forces was announced on
Sunday. Thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in support of their
imprisoned President in various parts of the city of Mosul.
Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Provincial
government office building in the Bab at-Tawb district in the center
of the city carrying Iraqi flags and signs reading "Baathism,
Baathism. We do not accept dishonor!", "Yes, yes, to the Leader
Saddam!", "Two things we'll never give up: Iraq and Saddam
Hussein!", "Bush, Bush, listen well: We all love Saddam
Hussein!", "We will die, we will die, so the homeland may
live!", "Down with America!", "Governing Council – you cowards!
You're stooges of the Americans!"
Mu'ammar Fares Nawfal, a 22-year-old student said "Saddam is our
President and he'll remain our President in spite of being a
prisoner. We are here to denounce his humiliating capture. He was a
leader given power by his people. We are here to condemn his
imprisonment and the occupation of Iraq and we demand the withdrawal
of the American forces from Iraq."
'Abd ar-Rahman Muhammad Badr, 43, said "Saddam will be our President
and our leader for ever and we won't give up him or Iraq."
Meanwhile, Bikr Siddiq Muhammad, an officer in the Mosul puppet
police said that at least four demonstrators were wounded on
Wednesday when the protest action was fired upon.
For the second straight day students marched through the streets of
Mosul carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein and chanting "Shame! Shame
on the traitors!"
Puppet police officer Muhammad said that when the students got to the
area in front of the headquarters of the puppet so-called Division
for the Protection of Public Installations, the members of the
division fired at the students wounding four of them.
The demonstration turned into a battle as the students attacked the
headquarters of the Turcoman Party in the city, stoning and setting
fire to cars belonging to its members.
American aggressor troops intervened to break up the demonstrators
using clubs as Iraqi puppet police fired guns into the air.
In Tikrit the University administration ordered the University to be
shut down for three days beginning Wednesday in order to prevent
gatherings and demonstrations in support of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein.
Demonstrations erupted in numerous Sunni towns in central and
northern Iraq. Violence broke out during demonstrations in
particular in al-Fallujah, ar-Ramadi, and Baaqubah, and also in the
al-A'zamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad where demonstrators were
attacked with gunfire.
Meanwhile the Board of Muslim 'Ulema' (Sunni) on Wednesday declared
that the method used by the American occupation forces to capture
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a "deliberate act of humiliation"
on the part of the Americans. The Board said in a statement "the
method whereby the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was arrested
involved the deliberate humiliation of the Iraqi people by the
Americans." The statement also denounced "expressions of pleasure"
by some people at the arrest of the Iraqi President because that gave
moral support to the occupation forces.
Sources: al-Arab al-Yawm daily newspaper, Amman, Jordan, Thursday, 18
December 2003.
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/arabic/2003/12/12-18-1.htm
2.Statement of the Arab Cause Solidarity Committee:
The apprehension and incarceration of Saddam Hussein will not bring about the end of the Iraqi resistance
Translated into English by John Catalinotto, IAC
“The apprehension and incarceration of Saddam Hussein will not bring about the end of the Iraqi resistance, which is the expression of the growing opposition of the majority of the Iraqi population to the occupation and to the project of the U.S. and its allies to bring about the neo-colonial domination of the country.”
Following the capture of Iraqi ex-President Saddam Hussein by U.S. troops, the Committee for Solidarity with the Arab Cause (Spain) would like to make the following observations:
1.The apprehension and incarceration of Saddam Hussein will not bring about the end of the Iraqi resistance, which is the expression of the growing opposition of the majority of the Iraqi population to the occupation and to the project of the U.S. and its allies to bring about the neo-colonial domination of the country. The inability of the occupying powers to eliminate or restrain resistance actions, considering the massive and undisguised military operations carried out in the last few months, demonstrates the capacity, strength and social support of the insurgency.
Even though a good portion of its combatants might be Ba’thists, the resistance did not come about from the continuation of the leadership of the prior regime through the surviving sectors of that regime. It is instead the response of plural, democratic and patriotic Iraqi currents that - after the first phase of the insurgency - will have to tackle the delicate task of forming a unified national liberation front, that will have to formulate a social, plural and integrating program for Iraq after winning back national sovereignty.
2. The governments involved in the occupation are once again committing the same error they committed at the end of the invasion of the country and Bush's May 1 proclamation that the war was over, by considering now that the capture of Saddam Hussein is decisive for regaining their control of the internal situation in Iraq, since the evident ruin that the resistance has caused in only a few months to their project of dominating the country.
With doubt a very symbolic event, the detention of Saddam Hussein only will constitute an extremely limited and temporary propaganda respite for the foreign and collaborationist forces, which have hardly shown themselves capable of managing the serious bankruptcy of the occupation in all its aspects - military, economic, political and social. That failure is corroborated by the latest methods the Bush administration applied for a transition of political power and of security to Iraqi elements with no democratic legitimacy and to internal security forces, with the aim of alleviating the heavy human and material costs that the resistance has
imposed on the occupiers.
3. It is for this reason an equally grave error to consider, as some governments and political forces felt themselves under pressure to declare this Sunday (Dec.14) - this was the case with the secretary general of the PSOE (Social Worker Party of Spain), Rodriguez Zapetero —who was opposed at the time to the invasion of Iraq, that the capture of Saddam Hussein was going to favor a rapid process of restoring sovereignty and democracy to the country. On the contrary: each relaxation of external and internal pressure on the U.S. and its allies will encourage the Bush administration's intentions of reactivating its initial plans to impose direct military control on Iraq and the region as a whole. It is possible to imagine that if this were the case the Sharon government in Israel without major pressure from the United States would re-launch its war of devastation in Palestine.
4.Finally it is possible to point out and condemn the immorality and cynicism with which the governments earlier involved in premeditated genocidal policy against the Iraqi people (which has taken the lives of more than one and a half-million civilians, according to agencies of the United Nations) and after an illegal war of aggression and plunder - included among these is the Aznar government (Spain) - causing the destruction that Iraq is suffering and the impoverishment of its population, celebrating the capture of Saddam Hussein and those who will should be found guilty claiming that their own crimes can be forgotten.
Particularly reprehensible is the fact that those who keep harking back to the logic of the "war on terrorism" in an attempt to definitively dismantle International Law, annul the essential principles of sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples, and turn back for their own citizens basic social and democratic rights, present the capture of the former Iraqi president as a long-hoped for triumph of the principles of justice and liberty.
Regarding the last point, it has to be remembered that the occupation authorities keep imprisoned in Iraq thousands of citizens (more than 17,000, according to the Iraqi Commission of Human Rights) with no legal protection at all, no recognized rights, with a procedure illegal from every angle that violates international conventions.
End the occupation, sovereignty for Iraq!
Madrid, 15th December, 2003
www.nodo50.org/csca
3.Pro-Saddam rallies erupt, Iraqis killed
Tuesday 16 December 2003, 15:52 Makka Time, 12:52 GMT
(source unknown. If this is your story let us know)
US forces have killed 16 Iraqis during separate incidents as demonstrations
in support of Saddam Hussein erupted across the occupied country.
US forces shot dead 11 Iraqis they said were preparing a "complex ambush" in
the western Iraqi city of Samarra, according to a military statement on
Tuesday.
There were no casualties among occupation soldiers in Monday's incident, the
statement continued.
Occupation forces alleged that Iraqi fighters used children leaving school
as a cover to attack the US patrol, which apparently used snipers and
"successfully suppressed" the Iraqi aatack.
US soldiers also returned fire in response to further attacks in the city,
100km north of the capital. No casualties were reported.
Military sources added that another five Iraqis were shot dead in Falluja
and Ramadi on Monday.
Witnesses said hundreds of residents protesting Saddam's capture had overran
the office of the US-appointed mayor in Falluja.
Meanwhile, a US patrol north of the city was apparently attacked by roadside
bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. Soldiers returned fire, killing two
Iraqis, said the military. However, independent media reports said those
killed were demonstrators.
Some 500 protesters had gathered in Ramadi and Iraqi fighters apparently
fired at US forces in the city, wounding one soldier. Occupation forces then
killed two of the attackers and wounded two others.
In a separate incident, some 30 Iraqi fighters opened fired at a patrol. US
soldiers fired back, killing one of them.
Protests
Celebrations that erupted in Baghdad and elsewhere on Sunday at the news of
Saddam's capture, appeared to dissipate.
Protesters in support for Saddam have cast doubts on claims by the US-led
coalition that the people of Iraq universally welcomed his capture.
In the ousted leader's hometown of Tikrit, about 700 people demonstrated
against his capture on Monday, chanting "Saddam is in our hearts, Saddam is
in our blood."
US soldiers and Iraqi policemen yelled back: "Saddam is in our jail."
On Monday, also, one protester was said to have been killed in Tikrit in
clashes that broke out between baton-wielding occupation forces and
students, reported our correspondent.
Police fired warning shots to disperse 1000 students protesting peacefully
in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday. The demonstrators marched from the
university through the city shouting slogans against the occupation and the
US-installed Governing Council.
Meanwhile, more than 200 people marched in central Baghdad against the
deposed leader and to call for elections.
"One Islamic nation! Congratulations, the people of freedom!"
they called over a loudspeaker with their fists raised.
More resistance
In related news, one US soldier died when a convoy was struck by a roadside
bomb north of Baghdad on Tuesday, said military sources.
Three more US soldiers were injured, two in serious condition, in an
explosion in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, about 160km north of Baghdad,
added occupation officials.
Saddam's capture has allegedly provided intelligence information leading to
the arrest of more former government figures and insights into the
escalating resistance.
Since locating Saddam, US Army teams from the 1st Armoured Division have
captured one high-ranking former government official - yet to be named - who
then gave up a few others, said US Army Brigadier General Mark Hertling on
Monday.
The intelligence that led the military to the men came from the first
transcript of Saddam's initial interrogation and a briefcase of documents
Saddam carried with him at the time of his arrest, said Hertling.
In related developments:
*American officials said interrogations of Saddam would focus on getting
intelligence on the resistance. However, US defence secretary, Donald
Rumsfeld, said that Saddam was not cooperating with his captors.
*The US military said it expected the ousted leader to address allegations
of possession of weapons of mass destruction. Those allegations were the
main justification for the March US-British invasion. No such arms have been
found.
4.
AMERICA IS WORTH NOTHING...AMERICANS ARE PIGS ON TWO LEGS
Dear Members of the UN Security Council:
Here is the example of American democracy. This is how much the warmongers care about democracy in Iraq. America and its bogus democracy are dead.
Tanks or not we will continue demanding the release of our President Al-Mujahid Saddam Hussein and Jihad will continue at full speed until all occupiers either leave voluntarily or in coffins. The more aggression the criminal American occupiers, and their fellow criminals, mete out to the People of Iraq the stronger we will become, the harder we will resist and the more coalition troops we will kill. Eye for eye...tooth for tooth. America cannot kill the will Iraqi People and the Muslim nation with tanks and bullets. It is totally inhumane to shoot people that are peacefully protesting for the release of their President. Democracy does not condone such actions and, if you stand for democracy, then you must speak out against what America is doing.
I ask the United Nations and all the human rights organizations to take strong steps to make America stop its genocide of the Iraqi People and end its occupation of Iraq before the whole Middle East blows up in rage. The will of the People must be respected. There are masses of Iraqis demonstrating for the release of Saddam and their voices count. I call upon you to put international sanctions on America and to demand it pull out Iraq immediately. It is plain for everyone to see that they are criminally aggressing the Iraqi People in the same way that the Jews are doing to the Palestinians. If you don't take steps the situation will continue to escalate to a level where it will be impossible to control. Please vote an emergency joint Council and General Assembly resolution declaring the occupation of Iraq illegal and demand the withdrawl of all occupying forces. The Coalition forces are NOT acting according to the Geneva Conventions, UN Charter or International Law and they cannot be allowed to continue. Pass the Resolution inspite of the objections of the warmongers for the love of God and the sake of humanity.
May God guide you to the best of decisions.
Very truly yours,
Shayhka Maulani Aeisha Muhammad
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=423620
Tanks roll into Tikrit
Tue 16 December, 2003 17:51
By Robin Pomeroy
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Tanks have rolled out on to the streets of Tikrit, as a message that the U.S. army will not tolerate shows of support for Saddam Hussein in the captured president's home town.
U.S. troops forcibly broke up at least four attempted pro-Saddam demonstrations and three soldiers were wounded when a bomb went off as their Humvee patrolled the streets.
In response, around 30 American tanks and Bradley armoured vehicles rolled up Tikrit's busy main street as two helicopter gunships buzzed overhead.
Armed troops jumped down from tanks and some used strong language to clear shoppers from crowded pavements in a town smarting from lost privilege after the fall of Saddam.
Tikrit is home to many of Saddam's kinsmen who enjoyed wealth and status under his three decade rule. U.S. troops found the former president hiding in a pit just a few km (miles) from town. A U.S. commander conceded that the occupying forces would never be popular.
"These people love Saddam, that isn't true of other cities," said Lieutenant Colonel Steven Russell. "These people have always hated us in this area. It is not surprising that they hate us."
Some locals backed into shop doorways, many just stood and watched the parade by an occupying army whose temporary base is a sprawling complex of palaces Saddam built for himself and his family on the side of the Tigris river on the edge of town.
An hour later, a handful of military vehicles returned, one carrying the U.S.-backed regional governor Hussein al-Jaburi, while a recording of his voice boomed a warning to would-be Saddam loyalists.
"Any demonstration against the government or coalition forces will be fired upon," Jaburi's voice said, according to an army interpreter. "This is a fair warning."
Demonstrators risk a year in jail and, if they work for the state as civil servants or teachers, they will loose their jobs, the message said. All demonstrations are illegal in the U.S.-occupied province.
"They are not allowed to go around kissing pictures of Saddam in this city," Russell said. "It will not happen."
Afterwards, Jaburi and Russell interviewed a middle-aged man in traditional Arab clothing who they suspect of inciting demonstrations.
"Look me in the eye. Let me make something very clear," the American officer told the man over tea at the governor's office.
"If our ears and eyes see and hear you are connected with demonstrations, and anti-coalition activities you will be going to jail for a very long time."
Russell described the roll-out of tanks not as a show of force, but as a security operation and said a tough approach was needed. "We cannot hand out lollipops, it does not work," he said.
Iraqi town takes pride in battling U.S. army
uploaded 18 Dec 2003
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
FALLUJA, Iraq, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Empty packaging for Coca Cola and Gatorade drinks containers and Nabisco crackers litters the ground near the rail station in this Sunni Muslim stronghold a day after guerrillas hit a train full of U.S. army provisions.
"The looters left nothing, even the carriages were torn apart," said Ahmad Omar, 23, near the scene of the latest attack on the train that ferries goods to U.S. troops at a base near the city, a focus of resistance to their occupation of Iraq.
Saturday's capture of toppled ruler Saddam Hussein has done nothing here so far to halt the attacks on U.S. forces that many in the city cheer.
On the contrary, some residents say, it will only strengthen the resolve of the young Muslim warriors they call the Mujahideen.
"The resistance will intensify because we are not fighting to defend Saddam... We are fighting to defend Islam, our religion," said Yousef Kubaisi, a former army officer.
Witness Tuesday's attack, in which the U.S. army said insurgents attacked the train with rocket propelled grenades, burning three carriages and blowing two off the track. Helicopters were used to disperse looters, the army said.
Since U.S. troops took over Iraq in April, dozens of them have died in Falluja and other towns in a "Sunni triangle" to the north and west of Baghdad that saw Saddam, a Sunni, as championing their interests in a Shi'ite-majority country.
SPLIT LOYALTIES
Loyalties among Falluja residents now appear split between Saddam and the Islamists widely credited with attacking the Americans.
"Saddam is the crown on our heads...If only all of Iraq was like Falluja," Omar, a truck driver, said as documentation for Bell and Sikorsky helicopter spare parts fluttered in the air on a windswept, cloudy winter day.
But Abdullah Saadalah said: "It's the people who are resisting the Americans, not Saddam."
Some say Islamist fighters who held back from using all their firepower against U.S. troops as long as Saddam was getting the credit for the attacks are reorganising for deadlier and more sophisticated operations.
"Even the Imam (Muslim cleric) has undergone military training," said one resident who gave his name just as Ibrahim.
"The arrest of Saddam is an insult and humiliation to all Arabs," said Sheikh Abdul Aziz Talal, a cleric in the conservative area inhabited by tribes that claim descent from the early Arab conquerors.
Some are in denial about Saddam's arrest, with wild rumours circulating that the captive dictator prayed at the city's grand mosque.
"Did they really arrest Saddam or was it his double?" asked Salem al-Badri.
The city was calm on Wednesday a day after U.S. troops killed an Iraqi they said had fired a grenade at them after they broke up a second day of riots protesting against Saddam's arrest.
Many say the behaviour of U.S. troops is fuelling the daily attacks.
"American treatment of the Iraqi people is ugly...and the more the occupation lasts the more the resistance will strengthen," said Jassem Hamed.
Source: Reuters
6.
Dec. 18, 2003
Iraqi Resistance front to be proclaimed soon
After the arrest of Saddam resistance will intensify and unite even more, says Jabbar al Kubaysi
(Anti-Imperialist Camp Update)
Jabbar al Kubaysi is leader of the Iraqi Patriatic Alliance which strives to unify the Iraqi resistance movement into a common political National Resistance and Liberation Front.
Anti-imperialist Camp: How do you comment the arrest of Saddam Hussein?
Jabbar al Kubaysi: It was obvious that Saddam was under the influence of drugs being given to him in blatant violation of the basic human rights. According to my information Saddam was caught already two weeks earlier. The occupants used the time to prepare him und to figure out the media spectacle we have been fed with. Without the help of Iranian intelligence the arrest would not have been possible. Often Iranian servicemen appear in Kurdish uniforms.
AC: The participation of Kurdish Peshmergas at the arrest was astonishing given the fact that Tikrit is an entirely Arab town?
JK: The Kurdish leadership is in full-fledged alliance with the US occupants who use them as cheap infantry. If one moves only some dozen kilometres to the north of Baghdad road blocks are manned with Kurdish soldiers who carry out the searches while American soldiers command. This is not new but has been established right with the occupation.
AC: Will the arrest of Saddam Hussein result in a setback for the resistance?
JK: No, on the contrary already within a few weeks you will see a further strengthening of the resistance movement. For some Baathists it might be a temporary disappointment. Although Saddam did not exert any command function he still represented the one man rule and the dominance of his family clan. Many party members who until now remained passive for that reason now will join the resistance. As the fragmentation of the Baath party reached its final stage, everyone decides upon his one without waiting for the command chain which anyway was no more operative since the collapse of the regime.
Regarding the Islamic currents an important pretext not to co-operate with other resistance forces is gone. Many remembered the rule of Saddam and were reluctant to collaborate with suspected followers of their former enemy. The Islamic leaders might continue to employ this argument but now it has definitively lost any ground. So the different currents of the resistance will move closer together and thus further gain momentum.
AC: Is it possible that Saddam will capitulate like Abdullah Öcalan did?
JK: Definitely no. The pictures the Americans released shown him as a machine deprived of his will by medication. But whenever he seemed to be in control of himself he refused co-operation with his torturers.
AC: What you think about the trial the US heralded to set up against Saddam Hussein?
JK: This is pure propaganda. There is no legal judicial system in Iraq whatsoever. The occupation is illegal, so are all the judges installed by Paul Bremer. The people will not respect them. How can a convicted criminal like the US’ puppet Ahmed Chalabi who has stolen millions of dollars, pretend to exert jurisdiction? Ridiculous! Anyway, they will not dare to conduct even a faked trial without thorough preparations and falsifications which will require at least a year or so. They fare that Saddam will reveal a lot of secrets contradicting their propaganda lies.
AC: How did your efforts to form a resistance front evolve?
JK: After months of intensive talks we will be able to proclaim the resistance front within a few weeks. We are already about to finalise the programmatic declaration. The main elements will be: 1) The liberation of Iraq from occupation and the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops even if they might been mandated by the UN. 2) Any Iraqi authority set up by the occupants namely Bremer’s so-called Governing Council is illegitimate, refused and fought against. 3) Collaboration with the occupants will be banned. Policemen and other people in the service of the occupants will be asked to quit. 4) The Anglo-American aggressors must pay reparation. 5) The resistance front strives to build a democratic government.
AC: What about a democratic and anti-imperialist constituent assembly?
JK: This is still an open matter to be discussed.
AC: Which currents are inside the front?
JK: Beside our “Iraqi Patriotic Alliance” there are different national democratic forces like for example the Nasserists led by Dr. Omar Nadmi and Subhi Abdul Hamid, “Iraq our House” of Abdel Latif al Mailmayah or the “Iraqi Independent Gathering” chaired by Engineer Khaled al Maini. There is also the “Islamic Committee” directed by Dr. Harith al Aldari. The negotiations with a break-away group of the Communist Party in the mid 60eis called ICP (Central Command) led by Ibrahim Allawi are close to a positive result.
AC: What about the group of Muqtada al Sader? Did he capitulate?
JK: No, capitulation is too strong. The tremendous Iranian pressure makes him hesitate. I do not only speak about the political pressure exerted by Tehran but also about the direct presence of thousands and thousands Iranian agents mainly in the East and the South of the country. We had two meetings with Muqtada and he claimed that he will resist the occupation peacefully. That means that he opposes the military resistance. But nobody can believe that the US can be convinced without armed self-defence. What does legal means mean in a situation of illegal occupation? Our armed resistance is entirely legal according to international law and the UN charter, but also to Islamic law and our national values. We will never accept to disarm ourselves and to limit us to toothless peaceful action as Muqtada claims. However, we will go on trying to convince him.
AC: Are there any Shia religious groups inside the front?
JK: No, for the time being there aren’t although the group of the deceased Sheikh al Madani agreed to join. But as their leaders, the two brothers of the Sheikh, have been arrested by the US occupants their followers hesitate. Furthermore we have many single religious authorities and sheiks. They have considerable influence. However, it would be wrong to present them as Shia religious political groups. Their place is vacant and we will continue our efforts without waiting for them.
AC: Is the Baath party also inside the front?
JK: There is no official representation of the party as they are all occupied by hiding themselves. But many members joined the front or support it.
AC: And Kurdish forces?
JK: What is happening in the Kurdish areas is unbelievable. The collaboration with the Americans does not only affect the leadership but big parts of the population as well. This explains why we could not find a Kurdish force to joi
